


Yes, That's my Family

by Rod13369



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, F/M, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26868484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rod13369/pseuds/Rod13369
Summary: Sixteen years later, a young Korean-American girl asks about her family.Follow-up to the episode "Yessir, That's Our Baby".
Relationships: Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Yes, That's my Family

**Author's Note:**

> I've had several ideas for a "Yessir, That's Our Baby" AU over the years, and I finally managed to work this one out.

“Dad? What really happened to my mother?”

For several long moments, her father continues to wash the dishes, passing them to her to rinse and dry. Yumi Pierce waits patiently. She knows Dad heard her, can see from the look on his face that he’s busy thinking about his answer. Finally, he sighs quietly. “I don’t know.”

An odd weight settles in Yumi’s chest; this answer doesn’t match what she’s previously been told. Even though she expected that, it still feels odd to hear him admit it out loud.

Next to her, Doctor Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, her Dad, finishes scrubbing the last dish. “Sixteen years ago,” he says, “your Uncle BJ threw a pillow at me to wake me up, convinced he was hearing a baby crying in the middle of camp.” He passes the plate to her and reaches in to the soapy water to pull the drain plug. “Charles told us off for waking him up, and when he went outside he found you in a box. Your mother had left you on our doorstep in the middle of the night.”

The odd weight in Yumi’s chest shifts, twists. She wants to say something, but her voice doesn’t seem to be working.

“There was a note pinned to your clothes,” Dad continues, “explaining that you were the daughter of an American soldier. Your mother wrote that she couldn’t take care of you anymore, and asked us doctors to look after you.”

Yumi grew up hearing stories about Lin Kyung Soon, a Korean woman her father had fallen in love with. Dad had told Yumi about Kyung Soon’s kindness, how she cared for those who had less. He spoke of how much he loved her, and how heartbroken he had been when she died in childbirth, miles away from him. His eyes would shine when he told how grateful he had been that she’d given his name as the father, and that Kyung Soon had begged the woman who assisted with the birth to track him down.

Yumi can’t quite pinpoint exactly when, but somewhere in the last year she’d started to suspect that these stories, as wonderful as they were, weren’t the truth. She had been working on ways to ask Dad, and tonight the question had just slipped out. “So… Kyung Soon…”

“Is a very real person, or was. I really did love her. But after she left I never saw or heard from her again.”

Yumi finishes drying the plate and puts it away as she thinks. “So if you didn’t know my mother, then why…”

“Because I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.” Dad smiles at her, the smile that crinkles the edges of his eyes and makes the blue orbs sparkle, but his voice shakes slightly as he continues, “Father Mulcahy was very clear about what might happen to you at an orphanage, and I couldn’t stand the idea of turning you over to the local monastery to be raised by the monks. The only other option was to get you out of the country, and the only way to do that was to send you to relatives in the States. So I did.”

Not right away, though. Yumi has vague memories of toddling around the MASH, being cooed over and cared for by the entire staff. Honestly, she’s not even sure if the memories are real or just images conjured from hearing her parents’ stories so many times. She has much stronger memories of living with… “So Grandpa isn’t really my grandpa?”

“Of course he is,” Dad states, reaching out to wrap her in a hug. “Just like I’m your father and Mom is your mother. The fact that we don’t share blood doesn’t make us any less of a family.”

Yumi wraps her arms tightly around Dad’s waist and burrows her face into his chest. They stand there for a few minutes, Yumi just wanting to keep hugging this amazing man she calls her father. Even the sound of the front door opening and closing doesn’t pull them apart.

“I’m home,” Mom’s voice calls.

“In the kitchen,” Dad replies.

Yumi lifts her head as Margaret Pierce enters the room, still dressed in her hospital whites. The blonde runs a quick eye over the pair. “Yumi? Darling are you all right?”

Yumi’s voice has stopped working again, so she nods instead. Above her, Dad says, “She knows.”

Almost immediately, understanding dawns in Mom’s eyes. “Oh sweetie,” she says, walking over to join the hug.

Yumi closes her eyes and leans into the embrace. She still has questions, still wants a proper explanation. She may (probably will) be angry at them later for how they’ve lied to her for so long. For the moment, though, she is happy to be in their arms, and thanks whatever deities may watch over them all that she has such amazing parents.


End file.
